


Dating? Married? Who knows.

by Pinkfish18



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, CEO Pepper Potts, Cute Ending, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Domestic Avengers, First Dates, Harley Keener & Peter Parker Friendship, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Language, M/M, Minor Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Oblivious Steve Rogers, POV Multiple, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Rumors, Shipping, Spidey Sense (Marvel), Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Wedding Planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:48:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25420402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkfish18/pseuds/Pinkfish18
Summary: "Um... Kid?" Is what the Captain said. And that is when Peter realised that he'd been staring at him for too long, and the feeling in his gut is not that of the 'Peter tingle' warning him of a threat but was actually his completely weird but super accurate gaydar.As his mind went blank, and the bottle of OJ sliped from his hand very dramatically falling at his feet, Peter blurted out to The Captain America, "you're gay?".OrPeter not only has good Spidey senses, but also a really accurate gaydar.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Shuri
Comments: 5
Kudos: 320





	Dating? Married? Who knows.

**Author's Note:**

> I came across this post on Instagram, and thought it would be a cool idea for a story.
> 
> So here it is! Enjoy, and please leave Kudos and comments.

Peter felt the presence of two people in the Avengers kitchen as he walked in that morning. He was still half asleep, and scrolling through Instagram he liked a picture of some pancakes that Betty had posted. As he reached the fridge he quickly DMed Harley asking where he was. 

It was summer break and Harley was coming over to stay for a few weeks. He took out the bottle of orange juice when he realized there were eyes on him and he felt a weird feeling in his gut. It wasn't necessarily the 'Peter tingle' as they called it, but something else. He turned around and found two supersoldiers staring at him, one with amusement in his eyes and the other, a very, almost borderline deadly blank stare. 

Peter had almost forgotten that Captain America also lived in the tower. Well he didn't really live there but he had his own room and all that. The thing with Captain America was that he rarely came to the tower. In fact, this was the first time Peter was actually seeing him. The last time Peter faced him was in Germany, and Peter wouldn't really call getting his ass being handed to him as meeting. 

"Um... Kid?" Is what the Captain said. And that is when Peter realised that he's been staring at him for too long, and the feeling in his gut is not that of the 'Peter tingle' warning him of a threat but was actually his completely weird but super accurate gaydar. As his mind went blank, and the bottle of OJ sliped from his hand very dramatically falling at his feet, Peter blurted out to The Captain America, "you're gay?". 

Now, Peter has been told many times by Ned and MJ that there is this thing called brain to mouth filter, and that Peter seriously lacks it. Before his brain can process what he just said to a national fucking icon his mouth opens again, and instead of backtracking or apologizing he says, "no wait, you're bi." Then he turns toward the Winter Soldier, who's blank expression is now replaced with slight amusement, and says pointing at him like an idiot, "you're gay!".

His eyes widen slightly from his own stupidity but moreso from the brand new information that his brain just received. He's already in deep so instead of paying attention to Steve's protests and denial he just looks between them and hums, "history books never told us you guys were fucking." 

"Who's fucking?" Comes a voice from the doorway. 

Peter completely ignores Steve's "we're not!"and "what kind of language!" and runs to hug Harley.

"You didn't text me!" He complains tuning out Steve completely. He's not fully awake for that kind of shit. He enjoys his embrace with Harley, and breathes in his familiar cologne.

"I forgot?" It sounds more like a question but regardless he returns Peter's hug knowing he also missed the boy. They stand there for a second too long before Harley speaks up again, "you're poking me, dude." It's a joke, obviously but that gets Peter to pull away from him.

"I'm super hungry! Do you wanna go get breakfast?" Peter is almost vibrating from excitement, he almost looks like a golden retriever, with his big brown eyes, a huge dopey grin and fluffy bedhead. Harley can't say no to that face so even if he had just eaten a breakfast that morning, he agrees in a heartbeat. 

"But first, you gotta take a shower, man. You stink!" 

The two boys leave the room taking no notice of the searing tension left behind between the two supersoldiers.

~~~

It was too late for breakfast by the time they got to the diner, so they just decide to order burgers. After catching up with each other, and talking about their friends from school, Harley asks his unanswered question again, "who's fucking, you say?"

"Hmm?" Peter makes a confused sound around his burger, loosing his train of thoughts.

"You were saying something? In the Avengers kitchen?"

As if a lightbulb went off in Peter's head, and his eyes widen, "oh yes!" He hurriedly swallows down his bite, a little sauce dripping from the corner of his mouth. 

"Captain America and the Winter Soldier! They're fucking!" He whisper yells.

"Really? Huh." 

"Yeah it is a surprise right! I can't believe it, but then again he did break a lot of rules for his best friend, that's gotta be love. He literally fought with Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark is still upset about it. You don't just do things like that for a guy that's just your friend, right? That's definitely love."

"It's not in the news or anything. Are they in the closet? That would make sense, honestly." Harley shrugs.

"Yeah, I don't know really. Oh! Maybe Shuri knows something. Mr. Barnes did spend a lot of time in Wakanda. Shuri told me they even got to talk a bit. He took care of the goats." Peter giggled at the thought. "Maybe I should call Shuri and ask her."

Harley just shrugs, and warns him about not outing them if they are not ready yet. And Peter understands. He definitely would never out anyone like that, but he's so giddy with this new information that he's sure asking Shuri about it would not hurt anyone. It's just Shuri anyway, she knows everything about everyone.

They continue to eat their lunch, and carry on their casual conversation. Peter is staying at the tower a few more days but then he will go back home. He invites Harley over to play some video games, and meet Ned. Peter really wants his two best friends to like each other, and while his room in the tower is bigger and much cooler, he can't always bring Ned over. They decide on a day, and Peter couldn't be happier.

~~~

"Oh shit, I almost forgot to ask you!" Peter says, in his phone. They had been talking for almost an hour now. Aunt May was setting up dinner, and so he finally decided it was time to say goodbye. "Did you know about Sergeant Barnes and Captain Rogers or am I literally the first one to find out?"

"If you're talking about the fact that they're practically married, then yes I had a hunch, and no you're not the first one to notice." Then she muttered something in Xhosa, before saying her goodbye to Peter.

They usually didn't get to talk much due to their school schedules and timezones, but when they did, they talked for hours. It was way past Shuri's bedtime, and one of the Dora's, Ayo, already gave her the eyes. Shuri was just making a few changes in her kimoyo beads bracelet when T'challa entered the lab.

"Who's married?" Here we go again.

"Sergeant Barnes and Captain Rogers. They're not married yet, but I'm sure they want to be."

"Oh? I didn't know they were together. Did Barnes talk to you about it?" T'challa sounded genuinely curious.

"He didn't exclusively tell me that they're in love, but he always talked about Steve. Plus did you never notice the way they look at each other, and all those affectionate touches?"

"Shuri, I am the King of this nation, and I have a lot more important things to do than notice two grown men be affectionate with each other." T'challa said, rubbing at his forehead. He'd been in a lot of stress lately.

"Is that a gray hair I see?" She joked.

"If it is, it's definitely your fault. Now shut this down, and go to sleep. You know how much difficult you make Ayo's job. She's not here to babysit you, you know that right?"

~~~

T'challa always knew growing up, that one day he'll have to take his father's place on the throne. He knew how difficult his father's job was. As a young boy he often fantasized what it would be like to be the Black Panther, to fight evil, and to maintain peace in Wakanda. His father was not only a good and worthy Black Panther, but also an excellent leader. T'challa was never the one to get into politics as a child. But now that he was the King, he couldn't get away from it. So as the Merchant Tribe Elder talked about a newfound issue, T'challa couldn't help but wonder about the tragic story of James Barnes. If what Shuri said was true then life had treated the man more poorly than he would've thought. HYDRA not only made him kill Innocents, but they also almost made him kill the love of his life. T'challa couldn't even imagine what he would do if something like that happened to either him or Nakia.  
He was snapped out of his thoughts by his mother bringing up his name, but now he was determined to make things right and easy for the two men. As the council meeting went on he decided it was a good idea to call Stark, and offer his help and resources if they were planning a wedding.

~~~

Ever since Tony and Pepper got back together, he had been sleeping in his bed a lot more. How could he not, that was one of the things he had promised Pepper, "no more sleeping in the lab, unless I am mad at you" she had stated.

The blinds opened indicating it was time to get up. Tony had been getting a lot better at managing his sleep schedule. Friday's voice chimed in through the roof, "Good morning, sir. Good morning, Miss. Potts." 

Tony buried his face into the pillows, and pulled Pepper into him, "five more minutes," he protested childishly. Pepper just fondly raked her fingers through his hair, and kissed his forehead before getting out of bed.

"I have a meeting, Tony. And you have work too, remember? Barnes needed you to check something in his arm. He looked distressed, and he already feels guilty asking you for help."

As if saying Barnes's name clicked something in his mind, Tony was suddenly awake now.

"King T'challa called me last night," said he, "he said something about a wedding? I don't know I wasn't listening. But he said something like maybe they're getting married? Did you know about this. He offered his help. You know, in the planning or whatever. I'm not sure really. You should see if they need help or whatever. He's Jewish, right? Maybe there's something different about their culture. You figure it out, Pep. You're definitely the right person." He finished, crashing back into his bed.

"I have no idea who you're talking about." 

"Barnes and Noble, Pep. Keep up."

"Wait, what?" Now she was definitely paying attention. "Did Steve propose or something? I didn't know about this."

"Maybe that's what he needs help with. Proposing, I mean. You figure it out." His muffled voice faded into sleep.

Pepper was used to Tony shoving all his responsibilities at her. This wasn't new behaviour, but usually those responsibilities limited to paperwork, meetings, and dealing with entitled white men who thought Pepper wasn't good enough to be a CEO. She was used to all of that, and she never complained. But telling her to plan a wedding or a proposal, the instructions weren't clear enough, for two of the most celebrated men in the American history, had to be the limit.  
She decided she wasn't going to burn up all her braincells trying to figure this predicament out. She had work for now. 

Pepper went about her day, making calls, attending meetings, and fake smiling at the annoying men. This was easy. Soon came her lunch break, and she decided to get some coffee into her system. She was making a small talk with Happy while walking toward the kitchen, when she spotted Natasha and Clint walking down the hallway.

"Natasha! Are you busy?" Pepper asked, smiling at the two of them. They didn't look like they were on their way to a mission or something. So Pepper really hoped she would get to talk to Natasha about whatever is going on between Steve and James.

"Not at all, Pepper. Is there something I can help you with?" 

"Oh yes. Tony asked me to handle the whole business about Steve and James. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, but you're close to them, right? So you must know. Is he planning to propose? Or did he already propose?" Clint and Happy, who were until then just standing like bodyguards on either side of the ladies, both perked up. Natasha looked at Pepper for what felt like hours before nodding her head, "I will figure it out, and report to you."

~~~

"You're getting married." It was supposed to be a question, but the way Natasha said it, it almost sounded like an order, which Steve almost replied to with a 'yes ma'am'. 

"What?" Was what he replied instead.

"You're getting married." She repeated, as if Steve hadn't heard it the first time. Clint who had his arms crossed beside her looked betrayed, as if he had been left out of a huge secret.

"I'm not?" 

"Pepper thinks you're going to propose to James. Are you hiding something from me Steve?" And now Natasha looked like she had been betrayed.

"I'm not! Why would Pepper think that?"

"She said Tony told her. You know what, Steve, keep your secrets. I don't care." With that she stormed out of the common room, Hawkeye shook his head at Steve, and followed her lead. Steve was so confused, what was even his life.

"Friday, where's Tony?" He asked, looking at the ceiling.

"Sir is in the lab, Captain," came Friday's voice.

"Thanks, Friday." He rubbed at his temples and took the elevator to the lab.

~~~

The moment Peter had walked into the tower, he got a weird gut feeling, the one that's like 'maybe you should just go home, Peter, today doesn't seem like a good day.' Maybe it was because he was coming to the tower after an entire week. 

Harley had gone back home, and Peter had spent the weekend with his Aunt, telling her all the fun he had. So now he was ready to get back into the game. Peter never got to go out on missions with the Avengers, so he was always stuck in the lab with Mr. Stark or Dr. Banner. He wasn't really complaining because he got to fix a few broken things in the Ironman suit, he even got to make an upgrade in the Falcon suit. He wasn't sure what he was going to do today, but he entered the lab with a huge grin on his face.

"Mr. Stark! I'm b—" words failed him as he came face to face with the Winter Soldier. The last time he met the guy, he outed him, and then ran away without any explanation. No matter how used to he gets to seeing the guy, he will never not be intimidated by him.

The Winter Soldier was sitting on a stool, looking as scary as ever, while Mr. Stark tinkered with something in his metal arm.

"Hey, kid. Good to have you back. Can you pass me that tester?" Tony greeted, without looking up.

Peter unfroze from his position, and walked over to the work bench, then he carefully handed Tony the equipment he had asked for. A few minutes passed, with Tony working, the Soldier staying very still, and Peter trying not to move too much in his place, when the elevator door opened, and a very righteous looking man barged in. Peter almost ducked behind the counter.

"Tony, what did you do?!" He demanded.

Tony still not bothering to look up, just mumbled something around the glass pencil like thing he was holding in his mouth. Steve stared at him for a moment then rolled his eyes, and turned to Bucky, who just looked at Steve with confused puppy eyes. 

Earlier when he saw Peter come in, Peter could swear he looked very murderous, and totally not puppy like.

Steve sighed, you could see his hair turning grey, "Apparently, we're getting married, yay." He threw in a little fake excitement. The Soldier remained unfazed but tilted his head a little, then Tony finally decided to speak up. He took the glass pencil out of his mouth, and pointed it at Steve.

"If that's a proposal, that's a very bad proposal," He said, then looked at Barnes, and said, "don't say yes, he didn't even get down on a knee." He poked something inside the opened panel of the metal arm as if nothing happened.

"No! It's not a proposal! Why would it be? Bucky and I are not dating! Who's going around spreading rumours?" 

Bucky's eyes turned to the kid trying his best to turn invisible. Oh, Peter should've stayed home.

Steve and Tony followed his gaze, and now everyone was staring at Peter. Yup! Definitely should've stayed home.

"You! What did you do?" Steve demanded, folding his arms, and giving Peter the 'Captain America is disappointed in you' look.

"It was a mistake! I thought you were dating, and I have no clue about the whole wedding thing. I promise! I don't know anything about that. Mr. Stark, help." Peter seriously should learn to keep his mouth shut. He wouldn't have been in this situation if it weren't for his stupid gaydar.

"Uh-" Tony began, "don't drag the kid into your personal problems, Cap. It's not his fault you're not dating. Honestly, you know what, I'll do it for you. Hey Robocop, what are you doing tonight?" 

"Uh, nothing?" Replied Bucky, monotonously.

"Good! I'll make a dinner reservation at that fancy restuarant. Wear something nice." Then he turned to face Steve, "Take my Audi. Wear the suit Pepper got you for your birthday, and pick him up at 6:30. Your room is soundproof and all that so nothing to worry about there. I'll clear up both your schedules for tomorrow, so you can sleep in. Anything else?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. When Steve timidly shook his head, he nodded, "Good, now get out. His arm isn't gonna fix itself." He made a shooing gesture, and got back to the poking around.

~~~

The next morning when Peter walked into the Avengers' kitchen, the first thing he saw was the line of hickeys going down the Winter Soldier's neck. Peter had learned from his mistakes, and so he slowly backed away without being noticed. He can just order in brunch later.


End file.
